Jorberron: Reborn

"And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him."

After breaking the curse of the Demon’s Eye and defeating Ur’eve and the rest of the Blood’s minions, the companions decide to return to Sharn. First, Capt. Dris’lock decides to resupply the Dying Son in Adderport…

After a day in Adderport, the Dying Son sets sail for Sharn. After a day you, your companions, and the crew are getting settled in. Then tragedy strikes! Some type of black art is exercised: Bucket is consumed and from his ashes a half-human figure is transported onto the ship. The figure wants Sachmo and puts up a fight to get him, killing Miltane in the process. Your foe does put up a fight but still falls in the end. War rejoiced in the blood bath.

Knyana used her powers over death to speak with the corpse. You discovered:
1) Your foe’s name was El E’essarg.
2) He was a servant of Hashitan.
3) Hashitan will come when you are at your weakest.

Wrap up

The Walking Dead has finally found the Orrery of Vortuum.

After Trebaz Sinara the group sailed south aboard the Dying Son to the Dragon Reach Sea. Our ship was overtaken by Dura Il’Matellin and a new crew of Elvish Emerald Claw mercenaries. Knyana finally got a chance to square off with Dura woman to woman, and this time undead to undead as Dura had been granted unlife after we killed her weeks ago. Knyana overpowered Dura with ease this time and she was destroyed utterly with nowhere to run. On Dura’s boat, we found a babbling and mentally unstable Erky Timbers (was this so much different than when we last saw him with a touch of Malphous?). One Emerald Claw pirate was taken alive and he was interrogated and awaiting punishment. Before Captain Drislock could mete out the infidel’s judgment, White Recluse pierced his eye at the end of Cold Spinner’s Pincer. It seems Capt. Drislock agreed with the fate and sentenced the EC pirate to death. But WR was guilty of breaking captain’s law and was sentenced to lashes for disobeying the order not to harm the prisoner. It was a right punishment, but a hard one to receive.

We soon reached the volcanic island and found that other branches of the Emerald Claw were already here before us. We found many boats burned to the ground and the villagers in an uproar swarming toward a tower buttressed into the edge of a volcano— just like we had seen in Jhemast’s dreams. While attempting to avoid the villagers, we flew directly from the ship to the tower. BADMISTAKE! On top of the tower were 4 stone guardians— always a weary subject to be sure, and this is why: They came to life and careened through the air to keep us out. One of the stone dragons breathed a terrible gas that turned Flash, Slag’s Nightmare, completely to stone in the blink of an eye. Slag plummets… hundreds of feet to the side of the mountain. I caught him before the ground and lowered him like a feather. Once we were on the ground his face exploded into a terrible light and force that dug up earth in front of him as he collapsed in a heap. The curse has reached its peak and was wreaking havoc on his body. WR tried to help him recover.

Meanwhile, Knyana was on recon as a bat swarm to the top of the tower to find an entrance and this was the last we saw of her for too long. Breetaw was flying in via chain from Flash and when we met the stone dragons, he transformed and floated down to the mountain. Breetaw took time to find his companions firing signal arrows down the mountainside and getting return signals of light from WR. With quite an effort WR and Slag climbed the mountain side to join Breetaw in “storming the castle”.

Floor 1 held a camp of EC mercs, a terribly bloated puss-ogre, and 3 incompetent mages that hurled fireballs into melee and then one of them finally suicided himself. Flying into the second floor invisibly, WR found Knyana beaten, tied, gagged, hooded, and captive ready to hang out a window. Though she looked different now. No time for questions, WR got into position for rescue and waited for the cavalry which arrived at just the right time. Among the leaders here were Malik and Thirst. Finally a chance for Slag to destroy his nemesis Thirst, but Breetaw swooped in for the kill with an expertly threaded arrow. WR and Knyana took down Malik which seemed to be some alien full of guts of worms- disgusting! Undead? Vampire? We’re unsure, but the maggots have definitely been dispersed. We bypassed one door believing that another would get us to the top of the tower and to the orb that would heal two of our squad.

Up the spiraling stairs we found one more floor with a few EC mercs and then another door that progressed into darkness. We were that much closer to the goal so into the darkness we went. Then we found ourselves alone in strange environs. Slag in a half-circle room divided into odd winding passage ways and dead ends. Here he fought and killed two minotaurs. Knyana found herself in half-circle room full of chain curtains and a creature made up of chains which she dispatched with holy fire. It seems our mettle was being tested. Breetaw faced some warriors that animated from mirrors that were destroyed only when he destroyed the mirrors themselves. White Recluse faced a terrifying cloud of mental energy and nearly succumbed to its power, but pulling on the strength of his warforged body elements was able to repair himself and overcome the creature with the Cold Spider’s Spinner. When each of us killed the creature, we found a key and a door which put us back into a spiral staircase going up to an ornate door. This must be where the orb is hidden.

We prepared ourselves with our most powerful spells and stormed out into the wide open air on the top of the tower. We saw the stone dragons perched on their spires and in the center of the roof was a 10’ tall orb of shimmering metallic colors. The orb that healed Jhemast! On the north spire, a couatl was crucified to the stone. Friend or foe, we didn’t know. Slag and Kynana moved in immediately to touch the orb, the Demon’s Eye, to lift the curses plaguing them. No time for the couatl as a HUGE lava dragon came screaming out of the volcano dropping pools of lava on the roof. The ROAR, the SPEED, and the HEAT swayed Breetaw, White Recluse, and Kyana SHAKEN. Then it roared into the sky and we lost it in the clouds. It was lost for some moments. White Recluse used the moments to try to read the mind of the couatl to find if it could aid us. It blocked his projections, so it would have to wait. And then it wasn’t lost anymore. It bulleted to land on the roof with us and bided its time to engage us.

We attempted to parley, though knowing our position was not one for bargaining, thought at least to barter for a few extra moments to heal our friends so they might be up for a bigger fight. It questioned us as if we were servants of Vol and strangely seemed okay with that result. Had it seen Thirst or Malik on the rooftop and scared them off easily enough? Would we be as easy to strike fear and flee? As soon as Knyana heard “Vol” escape the forked tongue of the huge bronze dragon, she rebuffed any alliance the creature perceived. The draco examined and perceived… Qual’baran— MORTALENEMIES! Hope of extra moments in parley now dashed, we strike first with spells and arrows.

Knyana and Slag hugged the orb with as much gusto as could be managed dodging and weaving all the while strategizing for their best action to cause the beast harm. The dragon breathed and caught Kynana, Slag, and Breetaw in a torrent of hellfire. Our company is stout in resolve. Breetaw continued a hail of arrows, and Knyana lobbed spells, White Recluse switched his helm for the psionic crown. Then Slag moved in closer to deal with the dragon and the dragon dealt with Slag by quickly clamping its jaws around our friend. Never counted out, Slag attacked from the inside wrenching Dolour’s Gate at the softer tissues inside draco’s mouth. And an extra something the dragon did not expect— Spikes of Wounding all over Slag’s body! PTEW! Draco spat Slag south still on the roof of the tower. Arrows fly and Slag mounts up for battle again. Draco hits Slag with every thing it had claw, claw, wing buffet, wing buffet, tail swipe, and bite. Slag battles from the inside again and the spikes are bringing the dragon low. White Recluse speeds time to repair his friend and the dragon tried to spit the wounding-one again, but fails to get him over the edge of the tower. WR takes some spear shots and just barely misses with three hits. The dragon goes for Knyana and snatches her up in one of its talons. Breetaw hit the dragon critically in the eye and then Slag was back on his feet for the death blow. The creature shuddered, lurched, moaned, flapped its wings, then quivered and died. The Walking Dead lept on its back with stabs, slashes, and chops splaying the creature’s armored flesh open to ensure its demise. And it gave one final ghostly exhale. Knyana, with her intimacy of the dead, confirmed that its soul had departed.

Feeling confident the crew decided to free the couatl. WR removed a spike on its neck and healed the wound. Having earlier removed a slave collar, the creature finally revived to slur some words, “Sachmo?” How did it know his name? It said it was Sur’kil. How can our former employer be this winged serpent nailed to the spire before us? After removing the other spikes and healing again, we understand that couatls can change shape… and they are also natural enemies of dragons which makes sense for Sur’kils claims that he has hunted dragons for a long time.

Sur’kil confirms
- this dragon was Ureave
- this dragon was a mature adult, possibly hundreds of years old
- Ureave has been serving Vol
With all that true, we have defeated every named person or creature that hunted us in the name of Vol: Dura- dead and destroyed, Thirst- rendered inert and dismembered, Malik- dispatched and dispersed, Ureave- wounded, chopped, and skinned.

White Recluse and Slag chop large sections of dragon faceplate, wing, and teeth for use in armor and weapon creation for sale or personal use.
4x large faceplate sections enough for one suit of full plate or 2 breastplates
2x large sections of wing enough for 2 full suits of leather armor
4x incisors for use in swords, daggers, or other wondrous items

In the chopping of dragon armor, Knyana spotted a dismembered horn that seemed oddly loose. She found it hollow and within unrolled a large black blanket, once unfurled gave way to an extradimensional space hosting gleaming treasure— the DRAGON’S HOARD!

We have many questions for Sur’Kil.
We have many items of magic needing distinction.
We have much treasure needing accounting.
We have a room in the tower due investigation.

“Find safe landing in the cove of the lion’s maw.
Northeast of the cove lies the black rock,
which orients toward a vine-choked ravine.
Through the ravine, a stone maiden gestures to the cavern
where the tomb awaits.
Deep within the cavern is the pillar that we cannot pass.
The marks upon the it are as dragonmarks, yet unlike them.
And they surely hold the key.”

Welcome aboard!

A hairy, hulky, but well dressed man welcomes you.
“Greetings. I am Quartermaster Ritter and this be Capt. Dris’lock, welcome aboard the Dying Son. The next best thing to them Lyrandar. Bucket here will show you to yer bunks while we finish loadin’ our cargo.”

Capt. Dris’lock appears as salty as the rest of his crew but moves with the mannerisms of a nobleman.
After some introduction and diplomacy by Knyana on behalf of the group, The Justice Keep, Capt. Dris’lock says, “While on this vessel, it’s my word first. Quartermaster Ritter here second. You have the look of being able to take care of yourselves, but on the sea, it is best if we all watch each others backs. Now… Yer scholarly friend, has paid us to escort you ‘round for 3 months. So what’s our headin’?”

After a short conversation the group decides to head to the city of Regalport to search to begin the search for Jheamast’s tomb. Capt. Drislock says that they should be able to get there in the better part of 3 weeks.

If only it were that easy.

With the Temple of Kha’shazul sacked and its inhabitants slain, the Walking Dead left the Temple grounds and began their trek back to Adderport. The group travelled for 4 sweaty, bug-ridden days and finally found their way back to the road to Adderport.

The morning of the 4th day, both Knyana and War were cursed by an agonizing pain. War fell to his knees while clutching his face, while Knyana fell to the ground while clutching her thigh. After 30 seconds the pain reduced to a dull ache then to an irritating itch. It was revealed that War’s face was once again marred – on his nose and left cheek was acidic, lime green mark (similar to a dragonmark)that seemed to pulse. While Knyana’s thigh was marked with a dead black dragonmark-like symbol. The group was very curious but eventually realized that nothing could be done until that got back to Adderport. Since the pain had been reduced to an itch the group travelled on.

After a short period on the road proper the group found their way blocked by a tall, haughty woman; a dark, cloaked individual; and two soldiers of the Emerald Claw. The woman commanded the group to hand over an object called the Demon’s Eye, or else suffer at the hand of the Knightly Order of the Emerald Claw. The Walking Dead who do not seem to take orders from anyone engaged the brigands. As the group attacked, 10 more Emerald Claw soldier appeared from hiding. The foot soldiers were not able to do much to stop the Walking Dead, and proved to be more fodder than soldier – but fanatical none the less. The cloaked figure whispered to War that he would feast on his and his companion’s blood before letting forth a burning, eldritch blast into War’s chest. War was able to counter with a might swipe of his axe revealling the shoulder and partial torso of a warforged. As the battle turned in favor of the Walking Dead, both the femaler leader and the cloaked warforged appeared to transport away from the battle. The remaining soldiers did not prove much of a challenge for the group. White Recluse demanded the surrender of the last standing soldier. The fanatic cried, “Never!”, and plunged a dagger into his own throat.

With yet another threat taken care of, the group searched the bodies for any useful items. Upon doing so, White Recluse found that one soldier was still breathing shallowly. After stripped the soldier of armor and weapon the revived him. The man quickly tried to run but Knyana, in girallion form, was able to easily grapple the man into submission.
The group said that they had some questions for the man. He reponded by spitting in White Recluse’s face.

The interrogation of the Emerald Claw prisoner appeared to end fruitless and in his death. Shortly afterwards though, WhiteRecluse announced the he knew the location of the Adderport Emerald Claw enclave. As the group was cleaning up evidence of the battle, they noticed that Brillblade was gone. Erky thought that Brillblade went off to secure a perimeter. WhiteRecluse pursued.

White Recluse easily caught up to Brillblade who was meditating less that 1/2 mile away from the scene of the interrogation. They had a conversation which ended with Brillblade seeking to leave the group. The rest caught up and headed back to Adderport.

The Walking Dead arrived at Adderport after dark and found that the gates were closed. They were directed to the harbor where others congregated after dark. Knyana, was easily able to mist into the town and head to Shirev’s Manor where she was given a note that said Sur’kil was awaiting their arrival on the Swift Wind.

The group made their way back to the ship and disclosed almost everything about their expedition. Sur’kil was very interested and surprised at many points in the story. And indicated that he wished to have a few days to study Slag’s and Knyana’s marks and research some stories that may be connected the events that the party has been through.

That night, after some harsh words with Brillblade, the group (minus Brillblade) sought their vengeance against the Emerald Claw of Adderport. It was a quick assault which ended frustratingly as the Captain Dura and Thirst almost unexplainably were able to get away but not before being injured, nor before Dura rebuked Lucan into a cowering mess. The rest of the Emerald Claw were slaughtered and the group escaped notice of the Adder Guard. Using his hat of disguise, Slag, impersonated Dura and set Scallion’s Supplies on fire so that the guard were witness.

In the 2 days following the assault, the group were able to trade and sell items that they acquired and purchase material for new items for WR to forge. Sur’kil, studied Slag and Knyana.
At the end of 2 days Sur’kil called the group back to the Swift Wind.

Sur’kil revealed that their story was similar to the story about Jheamast, an ancient Sarlonan explorer. Jheamast sought a weapon to use against an unknown enemy back in Sarlona. No direct account places Jheamast at the Temple of Kha’shazul, but after one expedition in Q’barra Jheamast and some of his party “gained” aberrant dragonmarks similar to Knyana and Slag. Though, according to the stories, Jheamast’s party was consumed by these marks within the course of a year. Only Jheamast survived.
Sur’kil believes that finding Jheamast’s tomb in Lhazaar Principalities, may help to determine how and why Jheamast survived while his party didn’t. Additionally, this may shed some light on the Demon’s Eye and why the nefarious Emerald Claw are after it.

Sur’kil chartered the vessel, The Dying Son, for the group to take to the Lhazaar Principalities, while he heads west to Korranberg to continue research into the accounts of Jheamast. Erky, decided to travel with Sur’kil to Korranberg to research Flamecaster. Lucan, decided to head back to Sharn to begin what he believes to be the long process of hunting Calderus down.

The Ancient Temple of Kha'shazul

After a long day of securing the temple proper and driving off its inhabitants, the Walking Dead sought rest in the belly of the temple amongst the remains of the Children of Night’s hoard. Some of the group slept, some meditated, and some stood as sentinels throughout the night.

In the morning the group was startled – Tav and Breetaw had disappeared without a trace! No remnant of their belongings remained and no track betrayed their exit. Vanished. Even stranger still those who did not sleep did not remember anything. One moment the two were sleeping soundly in their bed rolls, the next moment they were gone. Although Erky, WhiteRecluse, and Knyana all had a fading “dream” of plae skin and ruby red lips.

Afte this discovery, some of Erky’s secrets were betrayed as the others in the group noticed that his teeth and tongue had turned black. His already suspicious companions interrogated him until he told the truth of the matter: Through his research into Flamecaster, Erky came upon some signs scribbled in the margins of a book. Upon further study, the sign called forth a being called Malphas to whom Erky mastered and temporarily bound to himself. At this point Erky seems to be in control and claims that the binding only lasts a day…

The Walking Dead continued on with their mission. They travelled deeper into an area of the temple that seemed to have not been disturbed for many years. The scouting party was separated when a door/wall attempted to crush them, but they prevailed. Then the group came upon a lava chamber in which 4 otherworldly guardian tried to prevent them from crossing. Erky Timbers almost fell to the creatures’ barbed tongues and toothy maws. After destroying the guardians of the chambers, the Walking Dead continued on. They came upon another chambers thrumming with blades. As the group attempted to pick their way across the room 3 small contructs bristling with needles and blades appeared and harried the group as they crossed the deadly room. Some of the group were injured, but Brillblade seemed take the brunt of the damage. The contructs were dispatched and the group found themselves before a locked stone door.

White Recluse picked the lock and found another lock inside. He then picked the 2nd lock and found yet another inside of that. He also found another mechanism next to the 3rd lock. He deftly disactivated the mechanism which stopped the thrumming blades behind them. WhiteRecluse then picked the third lock and with a loud clunk the stone door was unlocked revealing a staircase headed down…

The Dead followed the staircase into a natural cavern lit by a lava flow rift. On the other side of the rift was a large sarcophagi resting in front of 3 niches carved into the wall.
The walls of the cavern shimmered with heat, and upon further inspection distorted dragon-mark like shapes shifted amongst the shadows.

The Walking Dead sensed trouble if they disturbed the niches and quickly formulated a plan. Prepared for the worst, the party moved in and readied to ransack the niches, hoping that these were the artifacts which Sur’kil was seeking. As they were examining the niches, Lucan noticed the sand and dust on the floor was silently acculumating and forming a pile. He alerted the party, and they watched as the sand and dust formed into a gaunt, dusty, humanoid with a draconic head. The creature stood there and asked in a dusty voice, “Who disturbs my slumber?” Knyana tried to communicate that the group meant no harm but the Sand Guardian ignored that and merely repeated, “Who disturbs my slumber?” Sensing that their names would not grant them priviledge to be in the chamber, Knyana grabbed the old scepter from the she was by and turned into a swarm of bats.

The thievery of these infidels did not please the Guardian. The creature blasted Knyana with an acidic sand spray that bit into her undead flesh. War, then moved in to engage the Guardian, quickly pummeling the creature with my mighty axe. The creature responded in kind with claws and teeth that seemed able to easily eat through the stone and metal of the warforged’s body. The creature also exuded an aura that turned War’s mount into stone. A vicious melee ensued with both sand and warforged pieces being rent from their respective bodies. White Recluse stepped in to help repair War once. WR’s assistance was brief though as the creature turned it’s focus to him – damaging both WR’s body and his custom made armor.

In the end, War was left standing over a pile of dust and bone. Single-handedly destroying the creature. With the Guardian disposed of, the Walking Dead searched the cavern thoughly, convinced that they were missing something. Their searching was for naught and they were able to exit the Temple of Kha’shazul and prepare to head back to Adderport.

Delving beneath theTemple of Kha’shazul

The Walking Dead found themselves split apart. While the remaining Dead were above in the temple proper trying to reach their companions; Knyana and The White Recluse were trapped in the Darkness below the temple.

Using magics, The White Recluse forced open one of the well bottoms. The Dead above rushed to help and found their two companions facing off against two black dragons – The Children of Night. A vicious battle ensued.

Some were severely injured during the onslaught, but none fell to the Children of Night’s wrath. Instead the Walking Dead cast one of the dragons down in ruin and forced the other to flee into the jungles of Q’barra.